What is the best website to find a tradesman

[FrangiePangie]

I never know which website is best out of Trustatrader, Checkatrade and Ratedpeople.

Which one would you recommend?

There is something called Home Solutions by John Lewis, I was thinking of going through them next time I need a tradesman, anyone any experience of them.

I'd avoid any that are free to tradesmen like the propertyheads mentioned. There's no investment from the tradesman so no need to worry if you get kicked off.

My husband is a tradesman and gets most interest from checkatrade but out of them all which trustatrader was the most stringent in letting him on, they're checks were quite thorough.

Have used mybuilder a few times and it's been fine.

I'd agree about checkatrade we got some dodgy roofers from there.
Mind you my brilliant gas engineer is on there, I put a good review on there when I use him for his sake, no one has ever, ever checked that I'm a genuine customer not his mate!
I've got all my tradesmen from personal recommendations.

Both of them disappeared off the face of the earth.

Hello I am a builder & I can tell you that obviously all these platforms/sites charge the builders, & they all have some checks some are a bit more strict but all can be manipulated.
There are a lot of genuine builders, but now with all the eastern Europe builders & some local also, we have a lot of people trying to do jobs that they are not qualified for & so people make the mistake of going for them because they are cheap. Building work is more complex than people can understand. Its hard work also. There is a lot of talk about cowboy builders but there are cowboy clients as well.
I just wanted to give a fuller picture on this.

Ive been trying to complete a new build bungalow that was left to me when my father died before getting the existing tradesmen to finish their work and Im still struggling. Its not a case of trying to get lots of tradesmen to look at a job and then selecting the cheapest but mostly a case of actually getting people to actually appear after making appointments. Ive even taken days of work and used up my annual holiday waiting in for tradesmen who dont arrive and Ive given up chasing them now. Yet Im a good payer if Im fortunate to get a price for a job, I do not quibble over it and pay it in full and on time. If the quote is too expensive I say so. With regard to sites to use to obtain workmen , both Rated People and My Builder were in trouble earlier this year as they didnt carry out any checks regarding tradesmens qualifications e,g Gas safe etc. The reviews on Checkatrade I have decided have been done mostly by the friends and family of the tradesmen as I got a plasterer via checkatrade who on his first day of starting demanded more money and his work was so poor Im sure I could have done as well if not better. He was despatched at a convenient point and then he began leaving threatening messages on my answering machine. He was paid in full. I did find a carpenter via My Builder and he is fantastic although overall I cant recommend this site as the sites administration seem to lack geographical knowledge and some of the tradesmen who are supposed to work in your area are located hundreds of miles away. Ive pointed this out to them several times but they dont do anything about it.

I've had a really bad experience with mybuilder. Hired a Part P electrician who turned out not to be. mybuilder don't verify the qualifications. The particular company I hired ceased trading and rebranded themselves. Their new listing on mybuilder has been able to keep all the old positive feedback from their old listing.
Mybuilder is clearly fine when things go well, but offers no assistance if things go wrong. You might as well pick a trades-person out the yellow pages.

Who the fuck advertises in the yellow pages anymore.

Ive had years of trying to find tradesmen (see earlier post on completing a new build bungalow) and my first recommendation is NEVER pay any money up front. If a tradesman / builder insists on payment for materials to start / carry on with a job say youll buy what he needs. I only got caught out by this payment up front once. If you are given a price for a job ask how many people will be working on it and the possible time it will take. Also watch out for excessive labourers fees as my experience is that the labourer is the tradesman`s son who will spend a great deal of his time on site lounging around listening to his music on the radio Yes, there may be some good labourers around but they are a rare breed in my experience. The country has been flooded with continental workmen but while they may offer a cheaper price many are not familiar with British Building Regulations and you could possibly end up with a sub standard job. It really is a mine field ! Possibly the best site to obtain a tradesman is the Which Trusted Trader site but you may find that they are comparatively expensive as most of them know that you have used this site because you want a proper job done. Could be the old saying You get what you pay for or so you sow, so will ye reap.

Theres a new one called nationaltradesmen.co.uk but I think is more for people looking for tradesmen in the construction industry.

nationaltradesmen.co.uk

There are lots but I won't add checkatrade after a bad experience there. A couple have been cool for finding locals, one turned out to be a friend of a tradesman I know.
In a nutshell, only choose ones with reviews. These are usually on the site, cited in facebook posts and showing on sites like Trustpilot.
Anyway,

www.myjobquote.co.uk/
www.priceyourjob.co.uk/
www.yourjobcost.co.uk/
www.moderniser.co.uk/

I have used the first 2 a few times. Not sure about the other two but my electrician friend says they are good.

I would go by the reviews on sites like here and when recommended a tradesman, check their reviews through the person recommending and ask others too. Do not go on one experience. Get a collective viewpoint.
Depends what you want to do. Renovation or a simple job.
I would suggest before selecting a tradesman that you query your home renovation requirements in places where pros hang out first and get opinions on how the work is carried out.
Try these and get clued up first on the needs, costs, before approaching any tradespeople.

www.trustmark.org.uk/find-a-tradesman
www.buywithconfidence.gov.uk/
www.myjobquote.co.uk/questions

Choose ones with a Q&A board so you can query online before a salesman tries to close you down. There are lots of them and no harm in trying a few but ask around locally first if anyone has used them. Ask here, on Quora, Facebook DIY groups. Whether you use Facebook, a tradesman finder service or go direct to their web sites, always ask for reviews: have they helped anyone locally. The better tradesmen are willing to answer your queries before talking figures.
Two I have used in the past:
www.myjobquote.co.uk/questions
www.priceyourjob.co.uk/

I did choose one builder as he had worked on a friend's house though good prices and helpful advice had a lot to do with it.